My favorite style of build has to be stance cars. Something about a car dropped to the floor with negative camber just checks all the boxes for me. This 2011 Nissan Maxima, owned by my good friend Ibo Jorge, is one of my favorite builds of all time. Jorge and I have been good friends for a number of years, and I have grown personally attached to this vehicle due to the fact that I’ve seen nearly every phase of this car. Who is Ibo Jorge, and why would he take a perfect normal sedan, put 20 inch wheels on it, and lower it to the floor?
Like many of us, Jorge’s love for cars began at a young age. “My dad and my uncle were my main influences because of my dad’s 1999 Toyota Camry that he put on different wheels and added music to. It was cool to see him change it to how he wanted it to be and making it different from other ones on the street.”
“My uncle was the next influence as I got older. He would always sell and buy cars every month. There was a good year long period where he was getting all types of different civics and modifying them how he liked.”
“My first car was a 1999 Mercedes e320 that my dad’s cousin owned since new. I was 15 when we got the car, so I had a couple of months of begging my dad to come with me so I could drive it around for a bit. A fun memory I have in that car is sneaking out to drive to Orlando with one of my friends and doing my first very weak burnout.”
“I didn’t choose this car but family on my dad’s side owns a dealership that had this car come in with everything in really good condition, so my dad picked it out. All I have done to my current car is FlyyAir air suspension, 20 Inch Weds Kranze Ratziner wheels, and a carbon fiber steering wheel. Besides that the only other thing would be music upgrades like subwoofers. I’ve had this car now for almost five years and I do plan on keeping it for a while longer in order to manual swap and maybe even single turbo it down the line.”
“I like modifying my car because it feels like an extension of myself and shows my personality. There are times where I regret doing all the stance stuff, or wishing I had put the same money in to a reliable truck, but cleaning my car up and sitting back to soak in what I’ve done to it usually helps me realize why I like doing it.”
“I work at Publix currently and I’m thinking of moving up into management or going to corporate for cybersecurity, which i am going back to school for in January. I like the people I get to work with and the new friends I’ve made while working there. I didn’t go to school for Publix specifically, but I do have the plan of going back in order to move into the corporate side of things, or at least to give myself the option to do so if I ever wanted to.”
“I don’t have any side hustles, but I have made extra money from selling some of my old tech stuff that I have laying around since I like to collect a lot of handheld consoles specifically.”
“A good piece of advice I got was actually from my eighth grade English teacher. He told me that the main thing holding me back was myself by not putting in all the effort I could. One thing I wish I knew when I was younger would be to always chase after what I really want to do. I spent a lot of my time while I was younger just thinking of stuff that I wanted to either have or do, but never applied myself to getting to that point.”
“I would give a younger enthusiast the advice of chasing their own dreams and applying themselves as much as they can. With the current state of the car community where a lot of it is based on followers and social media, doing what you truly want to do is the best way to make the journey more enjoyable for you.”
Ibo’s story is one that many people, including myself, can relate to. Many of us were inspired to get involved with the car community due to an older figure in our life. I think the quote “cleaning my car up and sitting back to soak in what I’ve done to it usually helps me realize why I like doing it” is one that every car enthusiast has experienced.
A car being an extension of oneself that shows its owners personality is something that all of us can relate to, and is what truly makes cars so interesting to me. Most of the time, the car truly is a direct reflection of the owner that tells a story without words.
